Dartmouth Athletes Volunteer at Special Olympics in Record Numbers

February 17, 2010 - Dartmouth Athletes Volunteer at Special Olympics in Record Numbers

By Jeff Friedman, Jaeger Civic Intern

     The 2010 Special Olympics took place on January 23 and over 80 Dartmouth athletes volunteered in the games. Each year, the New Hampshire Winter Special Olympics are held at the Dartmouth Ski way in Lyme, NH. The Olympic athletes compete in a wide ray of events from snowshoeing to downhill skilling, trying to win a gold medal for themselves and their teams. Dartmouth athletes showed how dedicated they were to helping administer the Special Olympics this year even more so than in years past. There were members from the Baseball, Field Hockey, Football, Skiing, Softball, Women's Basketball, Women's Lacrosse, and Women's Rugby teams who helped out. Whether it was scoring a race, keeping track of time, or simply helping to get athletes to the right event, Dartmouth student-athletes were always around. Jim Adler, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Winter Special Olympics, said “This was the best WSO ever in many ways, including the volunteer support we got from Dartmouth athletes.” This truly says a lot about the community and Dartmouth's student-athlete involvement and support for the Upper Valley.
    Margaret Smith, Senior Co-Captain of the Women's Basketball team, volunteered with her team and she and her teammates really enjoyed it. She said “We had a great time at the Special Olympics games! We talked to the athletes before their race and we cheered for them when they were finished.” Similarly, Eliza Bennett, a Senior Co-Captain of the Women's Lacrosse team, had a great experience at Special Olympics. The women's lacrosse team was relatively new to the Special Olympics set-up but they made their presence felt around the ski way by being so helpful to the athletes, particularly in the Alpine Skiing events. Bennett said “Special Olympics went great for us! We were cheerleaders for the alpine skiing events and we got to hand out ribbons at some of the award ceremonies. It was an extremely well-organized event and we really felt like our presence was appreciated.” Bennett also continued to say that her team enjoyed it and “loved helping out and will definitely do so in the future.” Every sports team in attendance was very helpful in ushering athletes and befriending the athletes. It created a great atmosphere that was truly rewarding for both the Dartmouth student-athlete volunteers and the Special Olympics athletes.
     Dartmouth student-athletes again seem committed to serving the community in as many ways as they can. Some of the sports teams that volunteered, such as Baseball, Women's Basketball, Women's Lacrosse, Softball and Skiing, have winter seasons so it is very encouraging to know that these teams are willing to take time out of their busy seasons to help the community.

Email Jeff
Previous Blog Entries
Previous Community Service News